We regularly get invitations from tour operators offering big discounts when we travel in groups - a minimum of 8 persons. That would afford us a substantial discounted cost of the tour compared to the individual cost. However, it is so difficult to gather so many people to travel to Australia or Europe (those are the places offered to us) and the only prospect so far is me and my husband. For the nth time, our plan of touring Australia will not materialize.
I have never been on a group tour ever since I left school. My parents had done it a few times. They told me that they had a good time even though it was a bit rushed. One disadvantage of being on a group tour is that you only get to the places where everybody goes to. Myself, I prefer to explore lesser-known destinations. That's why I prefer to travel on my own. With the proper arrangements, it doesn't have to cost a lot.
Quite honestly, I don't think that the money that you could save is worth the hassle of traveling and sharing a tour with a bunch of people that are not very close to you, I don't mind traveling with a lot of people since my extended family is pretty big and we do a lot of traveling together, but with acquaintances or strangers? I don't know... I would prefer to save for another year and then be able to travel on my own but that's just me, can you quantify what's a "substantial discount"? It can be more than 20% or something right?
I prefer to travel with travel freaks as love traveling and love to meet new peoples and to make new friends. While i do travel with a bunch of people specially while they all have same purpose and lots of other similarties, you had double fun that makes your journey more adventures.
I understand that group tours are economical and enjoyable to some extent but I have never liked going in group tours. There are particular reasons which stop me from taking this economic facility, first, I like programs according to my own choice and not as per others choice. Besides, my idea of visiting places is different from masses because in some cases I prefer to go to unusual places which are not part of the itinerary.
In my home country there are travel agencies that offer cheap travel package if you choose to go in group. The group tour package are said to be at least 40 percent cheaper compared to traveling solo. However, those who have come back from group travel do not share good experience, they say they are not give much time to see the places. Thus, I have never thought about going on a group tour.
Your country is not much different from mine in this matter. The main problem with these tour operators is that they never keep their words as not only they try to save by providing inferior services/facilities but hast things too. They provide so little time for a particular place which is simply not enough. Besides the lodging arrangements are always below par.
